Storyboard:

Title:

1909 - Suffragette Demonstrations: Women battle for equal rights

Rights-Managed,
Editorial

Location and time:

United Kingdom, London, 21-07-1909

Description:

The campaign for women"s suffrage was intensified by the founding of the Women"s Social and Political Union. The WSPU - associated particularly with Mrs Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters, Christabel and Sylvia - was far more militant than the National Union of Women"s Suffrage Societies, led by Milicent Garrett Fawcett. WSPU members, known as "suffragettes", became increasingly violent in the years before World War One, as successive governments failed to reform the voting laws. The harsh manner in which imprisoned suffragettes were treated, including forcible feeding of women on hunger strike, contributed to the growing public sympathy for the cause of women"s suffrage (in tandem with imaginative - and legal - campaigning of the moderate NUWSS).

Sound Bite and conversation:

Schwarzer, Alice

(feminist, chief editor of the newspaper "Emma") , speaking German: - "They imprisoned them,beat them, force-fed them during their hunger strikes. These women were from the upper classes, meaning that their fathers, brothers and husbands enjoyed privileges, yet this still didn’t help them. Men could take their rights for granted – the state took these rights away from women."

Helpen, Kathleen

(suffragette, the women battle for equal rights) , speaking English: - "The followers of Pankhurst used military – as we called them – methods. For example they rolled barriers the horses in Hyde Park or smashed in windows. They were only violent until they got their voting rights."

Helpen, Kathleen

(suffragette, the women battle for equal rights) , speaking English: - "At first women over 30 had the right to vote – who were 30 years old or more – or who had their own land."

Schwarzer, Alice

(feminist, chief editor of the newspaper "Emma") , speaking German: - "It seemed that at the beginning of the century they used the most innovative methods for resistance, with the bravest and the most unconventional ideas. Possibly they created the demonstration method of the century that was used by left-wing protestors all over the world, but no-one would admit this. So they did not recognize the efforts of women in struggles and therefore the deserved respect toward women was hurt again."

Stott, Anna

(suffragette, the women battle for equal rights) , speaking English: - "It was Emily Davidson who threw herself in front of the King’s horse at the Epson Racetrack. Yes, I think it was the King’s horse – to call attention to the Sufragette Movement."

Schwarzer, Alice

(feminist, chief editor of the newspaper "Emma") , speaking German: - "The female activists were more beautiful than the average, and I have my own opinion about it: if someone limps, she should shut up – this is life. Rosa Luxemburg could not contribute to the topic of women’s rights because people would point a finger of scorn at her: „look at her…” The Pankhurst family again consisted of attractive female phenomenon."

Stott, Anna

(suffragette, the women battle for equal rights) , speaking English: - "You cannot imagine how awful it is when they look at you as lower status than your brother or husband only because you are a woman. Not because you are silly, maybe lazy or something. No, only because you are a woman do they deny definite possibilities and respect"